According to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), from 1960-2006 "the percentage of obese adults ages 20 years and older more than doubled, increasing from 13% to 35%." Between 1980 and 2008 the average body mass index (BMI) increased globally by 0.4 per decade for men and 0.5 per decade for women. [2] [5]

Currently, 21.8% of the total global population [5] and 33.9% of the US population is obese. [1] [4]

II. Top 10 Most Obese Countries (Year of most recent statistics noted in parentheses; data from the World Health Organization.) [7]

Top 10 Countries on Earth

% Who Are Obese

1.

Nauru (1994)

78.5%

2.

American Samoa (2007)

74.6%

3.

Tokelau (2007)

63.4%

4.

Tonga (2000)

56.0%

5.

Kiribati (2006)

50.6%

6.

French Polynesia (1995)

40.9%

7.

Saudi Arabia (2000)

35.6%

8.

Panama (1999)

34.7%

9.

United States of America (2006)

33.9%

10.

United Arab Emirates (2000)

33.7%

Top 10 "Industrialized" Countries

% Who Are Obese

1.

United States of America (2006)

33.9%

2.

New Zealand (2007)

26.5%

3.

Canada (2004)

23.1%

4.

Israel (2001)

22.9%

5.

United Kingdom (2002)

22.7%

6.

Greece (2003)

22.5%

7.

Lithuania (2006)

19.7%

8.

Poland (2001)

18.0%

9.

Hungary (2004)

17.7%

10.

France (2007)

16.9%

III. US Obesity Levels and Rankings by State, 2010 (Data from the Centers for Disease Control.) [3]